This sketch of the U.S.S. Albatross was drawn off Mobile, Alabama, on September 25, 1863, by William M.C. Philbrick, a carpenter's mate aboard the U.S.S. Portsmouth.

The ship was one of two that successfully ran the guns of the Confederate batteries at Port Hudson, Louisiana, in March of 1863. It then took part in several expeditions on the Red and Mississippi Rivers and was involved in an event remembered today as "The Day the War Stopped" in St. Francisville, Louisiana.